The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) Attacks (Layer 2) + Understand the Basics
Spanning Tree Protocol (TP) is a network layer protocol that aids in the creation of a logical loop-free topology for ethernet networks. With the passage of time, several improved implementations of STP entered the industry, introducing new changes to the protocol: 802.1D / STP (Original STP) PVST+ is a combination of PVST and PVST (Cisco improvements of STP, adding a per VLAN feature) 802.1W / RSTP (Improved STP with much faster convergence) Rapid PVST+ (Cisco improvement of RSTP, adding per VLAN feature) STP Varieties STP comes in a variety of forms today, either as IEEE specifications (802.1Q Common STP, 802.1w Rapid STP, and 802.1s Multiple STP) or as private vendor additions. They all work in the same way; the only difference is the time it takes to compute an alternative topology in the event of a connection loss. Proper STP functioning is essential, but it is also very fragile, as this chapter will show. Understanding the Differences Between 802.1D and 80...